Posted Monday, May 30, 11:33 p.m. Following a decline in applications from prospective undergraduates, GW’s class of 2009 will have about 200 fewer students than the previous year’s group.

About 2,445 prospective students accepted offers to attend GW beginning Aug. 31. Kathryn Napper, director of undergraduate admissions, said the number of students who actually show up in the fall will be close to 2,400.

GW received less than 20,000 applications this year, a drop of 2,500 applications compared to last year. The class of 2008, which was admitted last year, is composed of a record 2,600 students.

Admissions officials said they aim to strictly abide by the 2,400-student target this year to ensure that resources will be not stretched in the future. Last year, the administration allocated an extra $600,000 for the additional professors and courses needed to accommodate its largest freshman class ever.

“While we received a larger-than-expected class last year, for which the University needed to make adjustments in resources, we need to stay fairly true to our resource allocation in order to efficiently use those resources,” Napper said.

The class of 2008’s record size was caused by a jump in the yield rate, or the percentage of students who took up the offer to attend GW. The yield rate in 2003 was 31.9 percent and jumped to 35 percent in 2004. The class of 2009’s yield rate is 33 percent.

Although next year’s freshman class may not be the largest, it will have the highest SAT average of any class admitted to the University. The average SAT for deposited applicants is 1295, which is “20 points higher than the class that enrolled last year and a University record,” Napper said.

Kristy McDonnell, a member of the Board of Trustees’ Student Affairs Committee, said the newest batch of students is “a great class.”

“The standard of academic achievement is increasing, there’s a wide variety of students who have community service experience, who have been presidents of their class or who have done a wide variety of things,” McDonnell said at last month’s Board of Trustees meeting.

McDonnell added that 65 percent of next year’s freshmen will have graduated from the top 10 percent of their high school class.

The University received 19,500 applications this year, a drop from the 22,000 received in 2004. Napper said a new online application made for “a much more committed applicant pool.”

“The new online application caused students who were not truly interested in GW to not apply,” Napper said.

Napper added that a fixed tuition program, which has locked the price of attendance for up to five years of schooling beginning with the class of 2008, has been well-received by parents of prospective students. Next fall’s freshman class will pay $36,370 in tuition each year during its time at GW.

“From what we can tell, the fixed tuition program has had a positive effect on our admissions efforts,” Napper said. “Parents appreciate the ability to plan for college expenses.”

To help pay the cost of attendance, Daniel Small, director of student financial assistance at GW, said about 60 percent of incoming freshmen are anticipated to receive some sort of financial assistance. Approximately $28 million of that aid will come from GW resources, and $6 million is given through federal programs such as Stafford loans, work study and Pell grants.

-Marissa Levy contributed to this report.